everybody's rushin' onto an adventure: Sonic Rush Adventure (Nintendo DS, 2005) Review

 NOTE: This review is part of a retrospective of the Sonic franchise. Feel free to read the other Sonic reviews I’ve done here - https://expithecat.blogspot.com/search/label/sonic%20retrospective

I couldn’t think of a better title.

Anyway, time to review Socialist Rifle Association- I mean, Sonic Rush Adventure.

Background and History

I couldn’t really find much information on this game’s development, but with the release of the original Rush receiving good reviews from both critics and Sonic fans alike, and with the DS still doing extremely well, it isn’t too much of a surprise that Sonic Rush would see a sequel. 

Like the first Rush game, Sonic Rush Adventure was handled by Dimps with assistance from Sonic Team. The game’s director, Sakae Osumi, took inspiration from adventure-themed media and chose to theme the game’s sequel around pirates and the seas. 

The game was announced in April 2007 and released in September of the same year for most countries but October of the same year in Japan. And the game seemed to have done well with critics and Sonic fans.

And I don’t really have anything else to talk about here.

Personal Experiences

I remember actually getting this game for Christmas in 2012. I had owned my DS for over a year and a half at that point, and while I was still getting a lot of enjoyment from the Classic Collection, I did want to expand my horizons and try other Sonic games that existed on the systems I had.

Oddly enough though, I had actually asked for the first Sonic Rush game that Christmas, but instead got Rush Adventure. I guess my parents just saw “Sonic Rush” as part of the title and figured they were the same thing. I didn’t mind though - I did feel like it would’ve been better to start with the first game, but Rush Adventure, from what I played of it, was a pretty fun time, and between the people I talked to within the fanbase, it seemed like it was generally considered to be the better game.

That said, it wasn’t one I really remember myself playing a lot, at least not quite as much as Sonic Classic Collection or Colors Wii. I do think I got to the point where I could play as Blaze at least but ultimately I never actually ended up beating the game until… well, when I played it for this review. I feel like the sailing and material-gathering aspects of the gameplay, as a kid who struggled with that sort of thing in games, often made me unsure of what to do and where to go, and just kind of put me off from beating the game for the longest time.

I will say I do remember starting a new save in 2016, but once again, I still didn’t beat it. And since it had been a long time since I even touched the game, I figured I would go ahead and start from the beginning when playing this game for the review.

Story

While trying to locate a powerful energy signal, Sonic and Tails are knocked out and stranded on an island after the Tornado is struck by lightning. They are awakened by Marine, a racoon inhabitant of the island, and as the story plays out, Sonic and Tails realize they were somehow transported into Blaze’s world, and they now have to stop the plans of a pirate by the name of Captain Whisker, as well as his first mate Johnny… who both turn out to be recruited by Dr. Eggman, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.

I gotta admit, towards the end I really started to feel sort of burned out with this story, for lack of a better word. I think overall it is a fine enough story, but I do feel it sort of drags a bit with the amount of text, which a lot of the time just felt like the characters going “oh, look, a thing!” or Marine being annoying for laughs, and there were a lot of moments where I just felt like I was just waiting for the next level to just start already. On the bright side, you can skip this game’s cutscenes, but I figured I at least wanted to experience the story for the first time when it came to this review. And overall, it’s a fine story as far as Sonic games go, but nothing too interesting and at its worst, one that really starts to drag as it goes on.

I will say the animated or ‘3D’ in-game cutscenes look really good for a DS game in my opinion. Obviously the models and whatnot don’t look the greatest, but considering this is a DS game, I was actually pretty impressed with, well, the cutscenes being there at all, but also the animation of the characters, camera angles and whatnot. There still aren't any voices or anything (aside from the sounds the characters make during gameplay), but still, the 3D cutscenes were actually a nice touch and pretty impressive as far as DS games go.

Presentation

Sonic Rush Adventure uses a largely similar visual style to the first Rush game - where Sonic, Blaze and the bosses have more of a 3D/2.5D look while the level environments and enemies are more sprite-based. 

I did notice there was some more use of 3D camera angles though. In Windmill Village, the game’s central hub in particular, Sonic can essentially be moved around in 3D after selecting any of the island’s locations. It’s not really used for anything - just for talking to the other characters on the island, but it is a neat little touch. There’s also a few sections within the levels themselves where the camera will switch to a pseudo-3D angle - similar to the first Rush game but this time the models and environments actually appear rendered in 3D. Then you have stuff like the sailing missions and Johnny races which, again, are largely rendered in 3D.

And those 3D sections, I would say look pretty good for the DS overall. It’s nothing mind blowing or anything, but it does keep a lot of that Sonic art style with a nice, vibrant color palette. I can’t really say much else about this game’s visuals that I didn’t already talk about in my original Rush review, but the art style that mixes 2.5D/3D models with more sprite-based environments, does look really good in my opinion, especially when considering the DS’s lack of power. The tropical settings and level environments generally appear vibrant and really ‘pop’ with color, giving the game more of its own theme while still applying the overall Rush style.

Oddly enough, it doesn’t seem like Hideki Naganuma returned for this game, but at the same time, this game’s soundtrack still retains a lot of that ‘upbeat’, trip hop feeling of the original Rush game, albeit this time having a more ‘tropical’ feeling to match this game’s overall setting. I’d still say I prefer the original Rush’s soundtrack, but this game’s soundtrack is still pretty good on it’s own. I really like the game’s main theme, A New Venture, in particular, and once again a lot of the level themes, plus the boss music and tracks for Windmill Village, sound catchy.

Though, one thing I do have to say here is that some of the music in this game kind of sounds… similar to other music I’ve heard? Probably the most noticeable example for me was that the normal cutscene music sounds similar to ‘Strangers like Me’ by Phil Collins - which I even felt as a kid. And then as I actually beat the game for this review, I also felt like the fourth variation of the Windmill Village theme sounded like they were singing ‘Hot, Hot, Hot’. I’m not sure if I’m the only one who felt that way but I really needed to stress that in this review.

Gameplay

In my review of the first Rush game, my opinion was basically that overall I found it to be a solid, good game that in some areas I did find somewhat underdeveloped. While it is definitely a fun romp, I felt like the level design felt sort of empty in some areas (especially with all the bottomless pits) and in addition I did think the platforming itself could have been tightened up a bit. Overall, a good game, but not necessarily one I really feel incentivized to replay.

And to immediately get this out of the way, I do think Sonic Rush Adventure is an improvement in a lot of ways. The level design, in particular, is probably the most notable thing I feel is improved here. The levels generally go for the same design philosophy that the first Rush game did - a major emphasis on speed-based platforming that utilizes what is essentially an early form of the Boost gameplay.

But I think what Rush Adventure does better here is that the levels generally feel more developed. There’s just a lot more going on and the level design easily feels more dynamic, with the speed and platforming generally feeling a lot more well intertwined than in the first Rush game. I didn’t really notice as many bottomless pits as in the original game, and usually most of the ones I did find were within the later levels of the game. 

The levels generally incorporate design elements that add to the overall flow of the game and give more incentive to replay the levels - different pathways and level gimmicks that gel well with each level themes like the snowboarding sections in Blizzard Peaks or the water cannons and dolphins in Pirates’ Island. I will say that some of the later levels do start repeating some of the issues I had with Rush’s level design - particularly Sky Babylon with the slow moving “balloon” sections and increase in bottomless pits - but even then it didn’t quite annoy me as much as Altitude Limit in the first game.

On top of that, the level themes all feel really unique - incorporating their own elements and gimmicks as I mentioned that really add to their respective themes, making them feel dynamic, while also being largely cohesive and sticking to a pretty consistent design philosophy that really does a good job mixing speed and platforming.

Even the bosses I would consider a massive improvement over the original. Whereas a lot of the bosses in the original Rush game often just felt like waiting through a bunch of enemy attacks for an opportunity to hit them, here there’s definitely less waiting and you’re given a lot more opportunities to attack the boss. Without a doubt, the bosses definitely feel like they keep the pace of the game going a lot better than in the first Rush game.

Overall, to immediately get this out of the way, I would definitely consider Rush Adventure’s level design an improvement over the original Rush. I think I’ve talked about in the past that my favorite Sonic games tend to be ones that really do a good job of combining speed and platforming with elements like alternate pathways and whatnot to further incentivize replay value, and I think Rush Adventure overall does a good job of that. And up to this point, I would potentially consider either Rush Adventure or Advance 3 to be my favorite handheld titles.

That said, there is a reason why that’s up in the air and why I’m not so sure I would definitively consider it my favorite handheld title. While I do really like the level design and the controls still feel as good as they did in the Rush games, in some ways probably even better (the trick system in particular has a bit more depth from what I can tell), I do have one major issue with the game that largely comes into play with the game’s structure.

You see, the word ‘Adventure’ in the title isn’t exactly just there to make the game sound cooler or anything. The game incorporates more adventure-feeling elements in between levels - in particular, sailing. In order to unlock new levels and progress through the game, you have to ‘sail’ to particularly marked spots on a map by drawing a path from one place to the other, then perform sailing missions that last until your ship makes it over to the area you marked.

Now, admittedly the sailing missions on their own… aren’t the worst thing ever, although frankly I probably would have enjoyed the game more if they just weren’t there. They all pretty much require controlling the ship in some way using the DS touch screen and stylus - some are directly controlled while others move automatically while you fire shots at attacks and enemies. I just don’t really feel like they add too much to the gameplay and just feel like a way to make the game feel longer. They’re not necessarily annoying or tedious, but they just leave me feeling nothing and I probably would have preferred it if these parts of the game weren’t there at all.

On top of that, there were also times where I would sail to another island, only to just talk to a new character and then be thrown back to Windmill Village and have to sail out again, which was also pretty annoying.

But in addition to that, sometimes you’ll find that the boat you have doesn’t have quite enough range to reach certain parts of the map, so you have to build other types of boats to reach other parts of the map. There’s four types of boats you use throughout the game - you start out with the Wave Cyclone (a waterbike/motorboat), but later build and unlock the Ocean Tornado (a more standard looking ship), the Aqua Blast (a hovercraft) and the Deep Typhoon (a submarine). Also there is the Magma Hurricane I guess, which is a drill, but you never actually use it in gameplay and it just exists for a cutscene.

Thing is though, to build and unlock these ships, you need material. How do you get material? By beating the levels of course. But the thing is, unless you manage to S rank the levels the first time playing them, you won’t have enough material to build these ships. So what do you do? Of course, replay the levels you’ve already completed. And while I do like this game’s levels, it is annoying to have to essentially “grind” to collect these materials just so you can progress further.

But I feel like the structure and progression is even worse when going for the ‘true’ final boss and ending. I guess Dimps didn’t like the idea of having a more straightforward system for collecting the emeralds in Sonic Rush, so they made it all over the place. You have to collect both the Chaos and Sol Emeralds in this game, and for the most part, you have to do so by exploring the ocean map.

Getting the Chaos Emeralds is a bit more straightforward - while you still have to look for locations on the map, you collect them by just racing against Johnny on the Wave Cyclone. That said, these races are pretty tedious, especially for the 5th-7th emeralds, and you pretty much have to upgrade the Wave Cyclone to even have a chance. The 5th-7th emeralds all took me a ton of tries to beat, and even then, I feel like I only really managed through complete luck.

The Sol Emeralds are pretty much the opposite - more over the place, but not as tedious to do once you’re able to do so. Still, with the Sol Emeralds you have to play through some of the Hidden Islands and Bosses as Blaze. But not just any of the Hidden Islands or Bosses, rather specifically the bosses for Machine Labyrinth, Coral Cave, Pirates’ Island and Big Swell (the final boss if you don’t collect the emeralds). And then you have to play through Hidden Islands 6, 8, and 12. But even then, you don’t just get the Sol Emeralds after playing them, you have to talk to Gardon who is standing next to the Ocean Tornado on Windmill Village, who tells you he found one of the Sol Emeralds, then talk to Marine, look for the ‘Get all the Sol Emeralds’ missions in the list, and then play through those bosses and levels AGAIN to get the emerald.

Personally, once I ended up figuring out what I was supposed to do by looking it up on the internet, I basically just ended up using a map for this game on Google Images that displayed the locations of where I was supposed to go. Even then though, there was one Johnny race that couldn’t be reached by any of the ships, and I found out you had to go to a Hidden Island below that from Coral Cave and go from there to the Johnny race. Frankly, I’ve never been happier to live in an era where information like this on video games is so readily available, because I have no idea how I was supposed to figure all this out on my own.

Conclusion

At the end of the day that’s ultimately just about everything I have to say about the game. The game at it’s core just builds off of Rush’s foundation, but I feel like the experience is improved with better, more dynamic level design. But while this could be my favorite handheld Sonic game, the structure and progression hinder the experience a bit for me. And those issues I have with the structure and progression lead me to feel that I would more likely go back to this game to play individual stages and levels rather than play it in its entirety.

In general, I would consider Rush Adventure an improvement over the original game, but I feel like looking between the two… there’s sort of a case where if the two games met in the middle - having Rush Adventure’s level design and trick system with the original Rush’s progression and structure, it would without a doubt be not only my favorite handheld game, but potentially among one of my favorite games in the series. Unfortunately, they never made a third Rush game, so I guess I’ll never see what that’s like-

Wait, what was that?

There is a third Rush game that has a different name, sharing it with a certain console Sonic game?

Okay then, I guess I’ll have to check that one out when I get there.